Normalcy

Started: 2006-01-01 19:03:34

Submitted: 2006-01-01 20:21:11

Visibility: World-readable

... in which the Narrator contemplates the year 2005.

In many respects, I ended 2005 the same place I started it. I'm a bit
older and a bit heavier, and my net worth is a bit larger; but I still
have the same house, the same job, and the same Gem I had at the
beginning. In 2004 I bought a house; in 2003 I got a job and moved out
of my parents' basement; in 2002 I graduated and got married. I guess
I'm settling into mundane middle-class normalcy, which isn't really all
that bad.

Two thousand five was a big year for me and air travel. I went on my
first business trip and ended up spending twenty-two days out of the
office in six trips; that's 8% travel. I visited exciting places like
Kent State University, Cambridge (UK), and greater Boston. I flew 29,555
nautical miles in twenty-one segments on five airlines (United,
Continental, jetBlue, US Airways, and Frontier; the count increases if
one considers Ted a different airline from United and if one counts
regional carriers: I flew on Air Wisconsin and SkyWest operating United
Express flights and Horizon operating Frontier JetExpress flights),
accumulating frequent flyer miles on three of those airlines. I flew
across the Atlantic, used three different computers on different
flights, had flights canceled and booked a ticket at the last
minute so I was selected for extra-special screening. I sat in window
seats and aisle seats and cramped middle seats; I spilled Mountain Dew
on my keyboard 35,000 feet above Iowa. I visited the Pacific and
Atlantic oceans in the same month. I visited new airports and gained new
loathing for airports I'd visited before; my travels took me to Denver
International Airport, Chicago/O-Hare, Akron-Canton Regional Airport,
Cleveland Hopkins, Will Rogers World Airport (Oklahoma City), Houston
Intercontinental, London-Gatwick, Newark Liberty, Ontario (ONT, not YYZ),
LAX, SFO, Boston's Logan, Philadelphia, and Portland. Any fear of flying
I once had is now long gone.

Professionally, 2005 was ... interesting. My manager quit without
warning in July, ten days before we were to deliver a major new product
to a critical customer. That product became the project that wouldn't
die, sending me to Boston on three trips. My employer is growing, which
is good, but I'm concerned it isn't growing in the right ways.

Our household doubled in size to include two felines,
Cat5 and
Willow. Our
cats almost get along, as long as they're not hissing at each other, and
a spray bottle comes in handy for keeping them off the furniture they're
not allowed on. Despite a number of our friends having children, we're
not planning on procreating anytime soon; our cats will have to be our
parents' grandchildren for now.

Kiesa and I finished unpacking in January; in April I bought a lawn
mower and in June I fixed my sprinkler system. We shuffled the spare
rooms and bought a guest bed. Kiesa's piano rounded out our living room;
spare cubicles took root and grew in our basement.

I finished watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and started watching
Battlestar Galactica and Veronica Mars. Despite
Hollywood's best attempts to drive me away from theaters (with expensive
tickets, inconvenient showtimes, blaring ads, and public-service "don't
pirate" messages), I managed to watch The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy, Revenge of the Sith, Batman Begins,
Serenity, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
(Netflix kept me occupied the rest of the time.)

My GPS receiver took me outside and to exciting places I wouldn't
otherwise visit; I found 118 caches in seven states in all four lower-48
time zones. Even when I wasn't Geocaching I still managed to get
outside; I got sunburned hiking to Chasm Lake at the base of
Longs
Peak, got devoured by mosquitos in
Flat
Tops wilderness, enjoyed hypoxia on the summit of Grays Peak, and
managed to avoid all three at the top of Twin Sisters.

For me, 2005 was a good year. With any luck, 2006 will be even better.

The point is that one should never assume that sucky, disgusting software
is written by first year comp sci majors. There are enough professional
programmers out there to cause a far bigger disaster.
- Randseed (132501) on Slashdot, 08 June 2003